Throughout the month of March, the Lethbridge Police Service teamed up with Alberta Sheriffs for a traffic safety project, focused on what drivers and pedestrians can do to keep each other safe on the roads.
Sergeant Danny Lomness of the LPS Traffic Response Unit says officers had around 300 interactions with community members to discuss safety, issued roughly 16 tickets as well as multiple verbal warnings.
“Everybody on the road -motorists as well as pedestrians – they just need to be paying [attention] to their surroundings and giving themselves the best advantage to be safe,” he says.
He reminds pedestrians to avoid distractions like having their earbuds in while they are walking and to ensure drivers are aware of their position before they use a crosswalk.
“Try and use a marked crosswalk and marked pedestrian lights when available. If there’s an intersection where you’re crossing and there is none of that stuff, take extra caution – do two or three checks, wave at [drivers and] make sure that they see you,” Lomness notes.
However, safety does not just fall on the pedestrian but is a team effort with responsibility also falling on motorists.
“Drivers, slow down in those residential [neighbourhoods] where unmarked crosswalks are very prevalent, stay off your phones, drive for the weather and the environment, and just slow down,” Lomness advises.
“If it’s snowy outside, you have to drive slower and pay more attention so you’re not sliding through intersections. If it’s sunny, you might have to drive slower in certain areas. If there’s blind corners, again, you just have to take it a bit easier.”
He notes the campaign focused on areas with higher pedestrian traffic, like school zones.
“In those areas, we have younger kids sometimes that don’t understand the ramifications of jumping out in between a couple of vehicles to get a ball that jumped out.”
Just last week, two 17-year-old boys were hit at a busy intersection in Lethbridge. Charges have since been laid in that incident.
READ MORE: Police charge Lethbridge man in connection to collision with pedestrians
Ahmed Ali, transportation engineering manager for the City of Lethbridge, echoes Lomness’ statements.
Ali, who also leads the City’s road safety initiatives, says they are working hard to achieve the big goal of the Transportation Safety Plan. The plan has a mission to see zero collisions in the city that result in serious injuries or fatalities by the year 2040.
Ali says the plan incorporates the three ‘Es’, which are ‘engineering’, ‘education’, and ‘enforcement’. He notes the City has zoned in on the first and last ‘E’, but the big focus is shifting to the ‘education’ component.
Ali says residents can expect surveys to come out in an effort for team members, “To first understand our road safety culture”. Survey results will help in the development of educational programs and public communication.
Ali explains that some of the lower-cost solutions the City has implemented to curb collisions involving walkers include adding reflector strips at pedestrian crosswalks, at some schools and median crosswalk signs to boost visibility for everyone using the road.
“The Alberta Traffic Safety Act requires drivers to stop for pedestrians, so pedestrians always have the right of way at any intersection,” Ali says.
Additionally, he notes Lethbridge has acquired 20 speed feedback signs, which tell a driver how fast they are going in certain areas. “We have five of them in the city now and we have acquired 20 more, so you will see more proliferation of those devices.”
The Transportation Safety Plan is available via the City of Lethbridge website.
READ MORE: Police conducting targeted enforcement project to address pedestrian safety
